What's the dividing line for Blair versus Poolesville?

[Anonymous]

We are trying to plan for a move to lower Montgomery County.
I'd like my kids to be considered for the west/north side magnets (poolesville, clemente, mlk, etc.) - in that catchment area.
Obviously they may not get in, which is fine, or they may choose their home school, but I'd like location not to be the reason they don't attend.
Those schools are far more convenient to my work, whereas it makes most sense to live in bethesda/cc for my spouse's work (nw dc).
And yes, I know there are buses, but for afterschool activities, sports, etc., distance/traffic does really matter.

[Anonymous]

Blair serves these clusters:
Bethesda-Chevy Chase
Winston Churchill
Walter Johnson
Richard Montgomery
Rockville
Sherwood
Walt Whitman
Thomas S. Wootton
Northeast Consortium
Downcounty Consortium

Poolesville serves these:
Clarksburg
Damascus
Gaithersburg
Magruder
Northwest
Poolesville
Quince Orchard
Seneca Valley
Watkins Mill

[Anonymous]

If you're saying you want to live as far south as possible and still be in-bounds for the Poolesville magnet, the southernmost elementary school zones on the Poolesville side of the Blair/Poolesville catchment boundary are: Darnestown, Jones Lane, Thurgood Marshall, Rachel Carson, Fields Road, Rosemont, Washington Grove, Candlewood, Sequoyah, and Cashell.

[Anonymous]

wootton is blair? i didn't realize.
what's the population divide on this ? Does anyone know ? I mean are there far more people in the denominator for Blair than Poolesville? But same # of seats?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:wootton is blair? i didn't realize.
what's the population divide on this ? Does anyone know ? I mean are there far more people in the denominator for Blair than Poolesville? But same # of seats?

I'd gues so because it looks like 15 HS vs 9 HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:wootton is blair? i didn't realize.
what's the population divide on this ? Does anyone know ? I mean are there far more people in the denominator for Blair than Poolesville? But same # of seats?

Blair's catchment has about 34,000 high school students and has 400 magnet seats (100 per grade). Poolesville's catchment has about 17,000 high school students and has 200 magnet seats (50 per grade).

[Anonymous]

Commute

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:wootton is blair? i didn't realize.
what's the population divide on this ? Does anyone know ? I mean are there far more people in the denominator for Blair than Poolesville? But same # of seats?

Blair's catchment has about 34,000 high school students and has 400 magnet seats (100 per grade). Poolesville's catchment has about 17,000 high school students and has 200 magnet seats (50 per grade).

I wonder what the size of the catchment was back when this started in the 90s? I'm just curious how poorly they've scaled this to match population growth?

[Anonymous]

If you are going to move, you should consider which school you like better if your kid doesn't get into the magnets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:wootton is blair? i didn't realize.
what's the population divide on this ? Does anyone know ? I mean are there far more people in the denominator for Blair than Poolesville? But same # of seats?

Blair's catchment has about 34,000 high school students and has 400 magnet seats (100 per grade). Poolesville's catchment has about 17,000 high school students and has 200 magnet seats (50 per grade).

I wonder what the size of the catchment was back when this started in the 90s? I'm just curious how poorly they've scaled this to match population growth?

Have you ever driven to Poolesville? It is wtf out there. I'm sure Poolesville was chosen because it had space. They county has opened more magnet programs since the 90s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:wootton is blair? i didn't realize.
what's the population divide on this ? Does anyone know ? I mean are there far more people in the denominator for Blair than Poolesville? But same # of seats?

Blair's catchment has about 34,000 high school students and has 400 magnet seats (100 per grade). Poolesville's catchment has about 17,000 high school students and has 200 magnet seats (50 per grade).

I wonder what the size of the catchment was back when this started in the 90s? I'm just curious how poorly they've scaled this to match population growth?

The Poolesville magnet opened in the early 2000s. Before that, SMCS used to be just at Blair for the whole county.

[Anonymous]

One of the reason Blair is better regarded is it pulls from a better group of schools with more kids to pick from. The best 50 Asian kids any given year from 34000 students in one of the richest suburbs will consistently produce, no matter which middling school you stick it in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of the reason Blair is better regarded is it pulls from a better group of schools with more kids to pick from. The best 50 Asian kids any given year from 34000 students in one of the richest suburbs will consistently produce, no matter which middling school you stick it in.

200

[Anonymous]

I'm sure Poolesville was chosen because it had space.

This exactly. The Poolesville cluster wouldn’t have enough kids to support a high school there without magnet kids from the rest of the upcounty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of the reason Blair is better regarded is it pulls from a better group of schools with more kids to pick from. The best 50 Asian kids any given year from 34000 students in one of the richest suburbs will consistently produce, no matter which middling school you stick it in.

This is ridiculous. All of it. --Blair parent